1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an alternator for a vehicle, and more particularly to an improvement of a weldment (weld joined portion) at which a terminal of a semiconductor part (e.g., a diode used as a rectifying device) and an electrical connection terminal of a wiring conductor, for example, are connected to each other by welding.
2. Description of the Related Art
In vehicular alternators (hereinafter referred to simply as “alternators”) as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 6-98511 and 62-55878, for example, resistance welding has been conventionally employed for connection between electrical members of the alternator (e.g., between a connecting member connected to a lead from a stator or a rotor of an alternator and a terminal of a semiconductor device). More specifically, resistance welding is employed to connect copper-made pin-shaped (generally columnar) terminals of plural rectifying devices for rectifying three-phase AC power from the alternator and a steel-made terminal in the form of a flat plate, which is covered with an insulating member around it and which serves as a terminal for connecting the rectifying devices and supplying the rectified power to the vehicle side.
The above-described connection terminal known as the related art generates a larger amount of heat as an output of the alternator increases, and has a problem that the insulating member and the rectifying devices may be damaged by the generated heat. To avoid such a problem, electrical resistance of the terminal for connection among the rectifying devices of the alternator having a large output must be reduced.
Conceivable solutions for reducing the electrical resistance are to increase the size of a terminal shape and to change a material of the connection terminal to a good conductor such as copper. When adopting the solution to change the terminal material from the standpoint of space, however, resistance welding is not suitable for connecting the copper-made terminal of each rectifying device and an electrical connection terminal which is also made of copper, and TIG (tungsten inert gas) welding (i.e., arc welding using a gas shielded non-consumable electrode) must be used.